Strategies
Overview
We have identified patterns in the actions teachers take in classrooms where students are growing as leaders of a better future. These transformational classrooms have shown that growing students in this way calls for more relational, student-led, discovery-oriented teaching and learning.
Discover
Check out this compilation of clips from some of the teachers, students, classrooms, schools, and communities that were part of our Global Learning Loops. What do these classrooms have in common? What key strategies do you see?
Learn
Our studies suggest that five families of actions (which we are calling “strategies”) distinguish transformational classrooms. Under each of these, you will observe five specific actions (for a total of 25 actions) often found in these classrooms.
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Love & Connect |
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Build relationships |
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Foster belonging |
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Nurture culture |
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Know yourself |
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Be human |
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Listen & Envision |
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Broaden perspectives |
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Host dialogue & discussion |
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Partner with families & community |
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Critically examine history |
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Collectively envision success |
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Learn & Design |
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Build critical knowledge |
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Plan backwards |
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Value learner variability & ownership |
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Expect higher-order thinking |
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Leverage learning theory |
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Facilitate & Challenge |
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Facilitate effectively |
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Manage norms & rituals |
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Foster collective discovery |
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Flexibly adjust course |
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Monitor learning & progress |
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Reflect & Grow |
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Take care of yourself |
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Pause & reflect |
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Find & foster allies |
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Seek feedback |
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Learn & unlearn |
“It turns out, if you are a teacher working to help students improve their lives and their communities’ futures, you do things very differently than teachers who are working to raise test scores.”
— Franco Mosso, CEO & Co-founder, Enseña Perú
“It turns out, if you are a teacher working to help students improve their lives and their communities’ futures, you do things very differently than teachers who are working to raise test scores.”
— Franco Mosso, CEO & Co-founder, Enseña Perú
Do
Explore an emerging toolkit of strategies for developing student leadership designed for teachers and teacher coaches, and other recommended resources:
TACL
Insights from a Transformational Classroom in Lebanon: Samia Habli
Learn from Teach For Lebanon alumna Samia Habli, an educator who works with children facing significant challenges in Lebanon. Explore how she is contributing to growing her students as leaders of a better future by fostering belonging in her classro
TACL
Samia Habli Creating Healing Spaces
In this video from 2020, Samia shows how she created healing spaces inside and outside of the classroom for her students to begin developing the awareness and agency they needed to understand and overcome the inequities they were facing.
TACL
Engaging across lines of difference (Part 4): What lens am I seeing this through?
In this video from 2015, Jonathan Wieland (Ako Mātātupu: Teach First NZ alumnus) reflects on his experiences at the institute spending time with a Maori community.
Share
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Our Glossary
In our attempt to capture the real spirit of the classrooms we have studied, we have sometimes intentionally used words and phrases in a slightly unusual way.
We invite you to learn more about our language choices by exploring our Glossary.